Help with pregnant stray

[zorana_dragonky]

I just wanted to let you know that I have been following your story (even before I got my registration handled) and your kittens are extremely cute.

The feisty runty one especially. I am looking forward to more photos!

 

[mermaid]

I want to see update photos! I've been following your story, too.

 

[charmaniac]

Here are pictures of how these 3.5 week old kittens look. All nine of them. The runt is "runty" but I have no names for the rest. The kittens look cuter than these pictures do them justice.

Runty:




Box:


Siblings:


Big Girl:


Kitties:





Last but not least, Momma cat:


Gonna see what I can do to take better pictures with less blue eye glare because it makes them look like little demons.

I gotta come up with names for the 3 tabbies (2M/1F) and 4 dark cats (3M/1F) if anyone wants to help

.

 

[laureen227]

well, since you've already named 'Runty'

how about 'R' names?
Ruby, Rudolph, Randy/Randee, Reese, Rhett, Rhianna, Rosie, Rich, Rhapsody, Rhythm, Rapture, Ricotta...

 

[lindsey88]

They are so cute! I still can't get over the fact that there are 9 of them.. lol

 

[cc12]

9 kittens!!! Who needs TV with 9 kittens.

 

[mrblanche]

Yeah, I was going to say nine kittens isn't a litter, it's a herd.

 

[angryrectangle]

The momma cat is absolutely georgeous. She looks alot like a kitty of mine that has passed.

She sure seems friendly for a feral cat.. especially if she doesn't mind being confined indoors. Have you checked with your local animal shelter to make sure she's not a lost cat?

Otherwise those kittens are all very cute. I love black and white kitties, too. I've never heard of a litter of 10 kittens.. that's insane!

What will happen with momma cat when the kittens have homes? Will she stay with you?

 

[charmaniac]

Mom will live with us, assuming she has no diseases that can pass to my other 2 cats. I know she is negative for feline leukemia and hiv, but I am not sure about other diseases. I am going to get her tested for all that stuff soon and get the kittens looked at.

I am wondering if she is starting to get worn out nursing all these kittens. It doesn't seem like she feeds them as often as she did at first, and her mood is not as happy, although she is still very friendly. At what point do I start feeding the kittens real food? They will be 4 weeks old this weekend.

 

[angryrectangle]

Originally Posted by charmaniac

Mom will live with us, assuming she has no diseases that can pass to my other 2 cats. I know she is negative for feline leukemia and hiv, but I am not sure about other diseases. I am going to get her tested for all that stuff soon and get the kittens looked at.

I am wondering if she is starting to get worn out nursing all these kittens. It doesn't seem like she feeds them as often as she did at first, and her mood is not as happy, although she is still very friendly. At what point do I start feeding the kittens real food? They will be 4 weeks old this weekend.

Well let me know how it turns out with momma cat. I'd happily adopt her if she can't stay with you! She's absolutely georgeous.

As far as I know (and have previously done) kittens can be weaned around 4 to 4 and a half weeks. It's good to keep the nursing as long as momma cat can handle it since her milk is full of antibodies that will help the little ones stay strong.

A good tip for getting them to eat hard food is to cook up some kitten food with milk (goats' milk is best since cows' milk isn't so good for kitties) and heat it up so get turns into a mushy paste. That way they can develop the taste for the hard food. Over time (not too long!) add less milk, and more food until you're just giving them the hard food straight up. My last kitten was eating regular hard food at 3-4 weeks old (although we found her quite sickly on the street at that time.)

Good luck, and you should post some more pics of them! Are there still 9 of them?

 

[charmaniac]

Ok, I gave the kittens food today for the first time and it seemed like most of them started eating it right away. I also got that powdered milk stuff, and the ones who wouldn't eat the food did eat that stuff and seemed to like it a lot. Mom ate the milk as well. I guess that means the whole weaning thing will be pretty easy.

"Runty" the runt is extremely bossy and constantly meows at me, my wife, his mom, his brothers and sisters, the bed post and whatever else. I guess thats the life of a runt, always trying to get attention. I still need to find homes for 5, possibly 4 of them.

I was wondering when they would become more agile, and it seems like its all coming at once. They went from not being able to walk, to scooting across the room really quickly. I saw one try to jump out of his box earlier today. Tomorrow I will take more pictures in daylight so I dont have to use the flash and their eyes do not look like demons.

 

[charmaniac]

Ok, here are some individual pictures of all 9 kittens. Still looking for homes for at least 5-6 of them, so if anyone knows someone who wants a kitten near central/east Texas (Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas) please do not hesitate to let me know.

Alpha Male Tabby:



Male Black Tabby:


Alpha Female Tuxedo:



Male Tabby 2:


Male Black Tabby 2:



Female Tabby:


Female Black Tabby:



Male Tuxedo Runt: (Runty is the cutest!)



Male Black Tabby 3:



Still trying to photograph the black ones which I think are tabbies with very dark stripes. They are not very photogenic, but have the best personalities and come right up to us and try to climb our legs, which is quite painful but cute. Runty is the cutest and bossiest.

Like I said, if anyone has ideas to get these kittens into good homes, please let me know! Thanks.

 

[siamesestacey]

Thank you so much. I rarely visit this site but what a treat. I'm almost teary eyed because my husband and I rescued a pregnant siamese that was starving to death back in Sept. '04. She had six boys and one girl on 9/25/04. We have her and four of the boys while my own mother took the other two boys and little girl. These kitten pictures bring back so many memories! Best of luck to you and what a wonderful story that you afforded her a safe place to have her kittens. Terrific. If I didn't have eight kitties already, I'd help you out and adopt a pair.

 

[skewch]

I am like the others that have posted here...astonished at the fact that 10 were born and 9 survived! I had a mom with 7 babies once and she cut them off at 3 1/2 weeks so I fed them wet food mixed with Enfalac. Back then (10 years ago) I didn't know what else to do. I loved them so much and they were like a herd of elephants when it was feeding time. They did excellent and were so cute and fluffy, it was easy for them to be adopted to good homes.

Still, 9 of them?!?!? Holy. Well in a few short weeks you will be having a few sneak in the bed with you

I'm sure I'm not the only one when I say we could use more pics

 

[mlynn]

Do you think you could bring her inside until she delivers? She seems pretty friendly for a feral...any chance of finding her a family after babies are born and weaned...or spay/release?

 

[charmaniac]

SiameseStacey: Thanks for your kind words and personal story. Its been an interesting experience helping this momma cat and her 9 kittens. She is still nursing them, although they have all discovered that wet cat food is delicious...to a cat, at least. I just saw them devour a bunch of wet cat food and then immediately pile up and start feeding off their mother...very cute.

Skewch: Now that I have actually printed out pictures, I am hoping it makes the adoption easier. Although none of them will be sleeping in our bed because we keep them in the upstairs guest room. They are separated from my other two cats. My male cat was scared of them and hissed when I tried to show them to him, so its best for all of them to be separated. Out of curiosity, did you adopt them out to people you knew? What process did you use to get them adopted out?

mlynn: Read the entire thread, or skip to the end

. I wound up adopting the mom cat, and although I was hoping for a small litter once I found out she was pregnant, she wound up having 9 kittens who survived. I used to have 2 cats, now I have 12, at least temporarily